Apologies and Regret
by SomecallmeMichelle
Summary: Honey Lemon visits Callaghan in prison to tell him what, in her mind, is a very important thing she should have told him long ago.


Did he regret what he had done? Surprisingly, no. He had threatened the life of thousands and he was never going to see the light of the sun without the shadows of his window's bars, but he had recovered what was most important to him, his daughter, Abigail. He would gladly do it all again if it meant his daughter had a chance to live again. And she had...though she hadn't visited him yet, still at the hospital, he hoped she would understand the reasons he had. There was nothing more important to him than her. Losing her was the thing he most feared.

From his career to his studies he had always been very focused, not losing a beat to distractions, it had been how he had become renowned at his work. That had all changed when Abigail had been born, forced to raise her alone, with her mother dying during the birth, he found himself less focused on the soulless pieces of metal, and more on the cute, little child of his. He did his best at raising her, not used to handling children, which had the ability to reply back, and disobey, a total opposite from the AI's he programmed. But he believed he had done a good job, the very best a recently widowed science could do. He had passed some of his interest, namely science, to her. And then he had lost her.

There were no words to describe what he had felt...at first he had been too stunned to do anything but yell and attack the man he thought responsible...he wasn't even aware of his reaction until they gave him a glass of water dosed with calming pills. Then he had been lost in grief, not showing up for work. The facility understood and he was allowed to return. But a sinister plan had formed, he would get revenge one way or another.

When he had seen a shot he had taken it...and while it had lead to the direct death of a person, he didn't regret it. It had been his mistake. It didn't make him very likable, but it wasn't a popularity contest.

Of course now he had his daughter back – her not having been dead at all – and he might had to admit he had maybe...possibly slightly over reacted. Not that he cared much. Everyone thought him despicable. But he only cared for the opinion of one person, his daughter.

He got slight news here and there, allowed one newspaper a day...the heroes of San Fransokyo, which nobody knew whom they were (even though only Fred hid away his face, he thought), his daughter still in the hospital, though recovering well...opinions piece condemning him, even though they didn't understand how it felt losing someone they loved, probably...people wondering and giving their opinion about how he would be sentenced.

He hadn't been sentenced yet, but he had already lost all hopes of freedom. He wasn't particularly young, being in his 60's, and whatever kind of sentence he received it would surely last until his death.

He waited visitation hours, even though nobody had yet visited him except journalists hoping for an article, or Hiro, which just stood there, judging him with his eyes. It was uncomfortable when he did that, but he deserved it, somehow.

Today though he had a visitor, and it wasn't Hiro, hoping to make him feel guilt (which he wouldn't feel, for the recovery of his daughter had, in his mind, been worth the death of Tadashi), it was Honey Lemon, as the other students called her.

She stood there, a cheery grin on her face, despite the sombre and clean environment, as though she wasn't affected by it. Callaghan remembered back to the last time he had seen her...when he was trying to hurt her. Not the best situation to meet one of his students. Or ex-students, he had a feeling he wouldn't be teaching anyone anymore.

She smiled as she sat and picked up the phone. He had a phone on the other side of the glass which he picked.

"Hi!" – She said and the cheeky grin never left her face despite the way his face contorted into a face of irritation.

"Good afternoon" – The visiting hour was from 4pm to 5pm. He spoke tentatively as though testing the grounds. "Honey Lemon" continued smiling at him, and he was getting increasingly annoyed with the way she seemed to stare right at him.

"I suppose you're here to guilt trip me?"

"Actually no, I told Hiro you'd probably not feel any guilt, seeing as you got what you wanted."

That took him slightly by surprise, he had forgotten just how smart she was. Something about the smile made her seem silly, like she wasn't aware of how cruel the world was...he had not expected her to understand how he felt.

"You almost killed the 5 of us, you killed Tadashi, and you almost succeeded in killing Krei, but in the end that wasn't really what you wanted..."

He seemed amused by the situation, Honey had always been very observant, and good at analysing people, she was analysing him right now. He tried not to tense up.

"So what did I want?"

"You wanted revenge, you wanted, not having your daughter, to make sure that Krei felt at least a slight twinge of the pain you had felt, even if it killed him."

She paused to breathe and then continued.

"Ultimately of course, you only managed in hurting us, and Hiro, which hadn't had anything to do with the incident...but I'm sure you saw it as worth it, to hurt 6 or 7 people, in your quest for revenge, the pain maddening you"

She was of course correct, like she always seemed to be. He hadn't thought about the people he had hurt in the process of revenge...some part of him knew it wasn't fair, but his life hadn't been fair, or he wouldn't have lost first his wife, then his daughter. So he had pressed on.

"I just wanted to come and tell you something."

He looked her straight in the eyes, she wasn't avoiding his gaze like Hiro, too furious to tell him anything, seemed to do. She was looking him straight on.

"I admired you professor, you were such a good man, and an idol to all of us...I asked myself what had happened...now I know it was grief, which so often turns down the good in us...Hiro had us for support but you...you had no one...and I'm sorry"

Callaghan laughed. He really found it funny, he had killed one of her best friends, and she was the one apologising?

"You may laugh, but the truth was, that as observant as I was, I didn't see it coming" – Slight tears formed on her eyes, tears she closed her eyes to absorb. – "I should have seen just how unwell you were and tried to help. I'm sorry. We all are."

Callaghan, for the first time felt a twang of guilt. They were all so good...even trying to understand him despite what he had done...and he had just ruined a perfectly functional group.

He realised how selfish he had been, and he was the one that, this time, found himself unable to look at the one of the (as they had been nicknamed) Big Hero 6's eyes.

Honey smiled. And Callaghan left, having a lot to think, it seemed, even if she didn't mean to, she had succeeded where Hiro had not, he had been guilt tripped.


End file.
